A seaside town of two parts, St Leonards and Hastings have become much more of a draw in recent years, at least partly due to an influx of a younger crowd bringing much more vibrancy to the scene. Best of all, they're just a 90 minute train ride from central London.
Both Hastings and St Leonards have their bright spots, with St Leonards in particular undergoing a dramatic shift towards great eating and drinking in the last decade. Here's our guide to the places you want to try (and book in advance) on your next visit.
Restaurants
Lury
Hastings - 8 Cambridge Rd, Hastings TN34 1DJ
Lury comes from husband-and-wife team Jack Lury and Issy Cianchi, and it's quite unlike anything else in Hastings. They serve a changing tasting menu to just 10 guests per sitting. For the menu, Jack draws on his British and Sri Lankan heritage, particularly the Burgher cooking of his grandparents. A meal here is a tour de force of unique dishes and extremely generous for the price, with dishes like black pork curry with milk bun or poached halibut with spiced fondant potato appearing. The restaurant also looks great, with a minimalist design and an open kitchen at the back.
Follow them on Instagram: @lury_restaurant
Dora's Bar and Pizza
St Leonards - 28 Norman Rd, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6AE
This pizzeria comes from the same team behind Bayte, and while this little corner of St Leonards has been a pizzeria before, Dora's is a different beast altogether. The pizza menu is limited to just six or seven pizzas, but that limited list has allowed them to make the quality shine through. We've tried the aubergine, scamorza, confit garlic and pangrattato pizza and can strongly recommend it, with pepperoni and nduja options available too. There's a short but well-chosen wine list, local beers, a big (covered) terrace and don't leave without trying their excellent ricotta ice cream.
Follow them on Instagram: @doras.pizzabar
Goat Ledge
St Leonards - The Promenade, Lower, Warrior Square, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6FA
Self-described as a "beach cafe", Goat Ledge is a collection of huts, tables and a large terrace on the promenade by St Leonards. It's consistently one of the most popular spots in the area, either for the food or to grab a drink as fuel for the trip down the promenade towards the Old Town. The menu changes throughout the day, with breakfast buns in the morning and fish finger baps by lunchtime. We would strongly recommend getting their excellent crab-loaded fries with aioli and pico de gallo, plus look out for special menus throughout the year.
Follow them on Instagram: @doras.pizzabar
Selkie Seafood Bar
St Leonards - Store 2, Bottle Alley, Eversfield Pl, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6FD
Right on the seafront promenade, Selkie took over what was once a public toilet, changing it into something very different. Now it's a seafood bar and one of the most popular places to eat in the area. You can sit inside, but frankly you're going to want to grab a table on the beach itself on a good day. If you're walking down the promenade, stopping here for a platter of oysters paired with a glass of wine is a must.
Follow them on Instagram: @selkieseafoodbar.
Tonka
Hastings - 3 Marine Parade, Hastings TN34 3AG
This unique opening in Hastings features a Mauritian fusion menu, influenced by chef/owner Kim Duke's partner. Kim also previously worked at BAO (you can also see some of those influences in the menus here) and was a co-founder of Life Kitchen with Ryan Riley. The menu changes regularly, with a few signatures like tapioca fried chicken. Standouts on our visit included their pineapple prawn fried rice and an excellent wagyu steak in pandan butter.
Follow them on Instagram: @tonkahastings
Maggie's Fish & Chips
Hastings - 8-9 Rock-a-Nore Rd, Hastings TN34 3DW
Head down to the seafront at Hastings and you'll find quite a few fish and chip shops to choose from, and from most of them you'll get a perfectly decent fish supper. But to our mind, the very best is Maggie's, at the far end of Hastings, just past the old town. It's absolutely a place to book early, but you can also take away if you fancy your chances with the seagulls on the beach (they also keep back the small outside terrace for walk-ins). Our lunch here gave us one of the best plates of fish & chips we've had in recent years, with the monkfish special in particular being fantastic (with proper thin, crispy batter), and it also gets a special mention for their fabulous chips.
Follow them on Instagram: @tonkahastings
Bayte
St Leonards - 45-46 Kings Rd, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6DY
Bayte is a modern European restaurant from Ruby Boglione and Silvy Pilkington (also behind Dora's and Coquina). Ruby is also the daughter of the founders of Petersham Nursery, so she knows quite a bit about hospitality. They took over what used to be an antiques shop, where there's a focus on local sourcing for a menu that takes its influence from across the globe.
Follow them on Instagram: @bayte_stleonards
Farmyard
St Leonards - 52 Kings Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings TN37 6DY
This restaurant and wine bar was opened in 2019 by former Evening Standard food writer Ben and his wife Kate. Sustainability is at the heart of what they do, so expect a very locavore menu with lesser-used cuts of meat. The wine list specialises in natural, biodynamic and low-intervention wines. We also hear very good things about the Sunday lunch here.
Follow them on Instagram: @farmyardwine.
Heist
St Leonards - 22-26 Norman Rd, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6NH
Heist comes from the same people behind Farmyard, and it's a mini St Leonards street food hall, with traders including burgers from Bun, Tacos from The Clam, pizza from Dough Ray Me and Chinese and Nepalese cooking from Phoenix Dining, as well as coffee from Bolthole. A fair chunk of the space is devoted to Boatyard, their in-house restaurant (previously at Hastings Contemporary), which focuses on seafood and small plates, with recent dishes including a deep-fried red mullet with crab, cockles and apple namh jim.
Follow them on Instagram: @heistmarket
Pubs and bars
Ritual Bar
St Leonards - 8, Marine Court, RITUAL BAR, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN38 0DX
One of the few proper cocktail bars in Hastings or St Leonards, Ritual's list predominantly features twists on classics. So there are cocktails like the Picante Margarita (Quiquiriqui mezcal, Olmeca blanco tequila, beesou honey liqueur, agave, lime, chilli) or a Pandan Colada (Aluna Tropical rum, pineapple, lime, coconut milk). The drinks here are very well made and notably generous serves, plus there's a strong non-alcoholic showing. A small wine and beer list is available, and the tables to aim for are the two near the window, perfect for gazing out to the sea, margarita in hand.
Follow them on Instagram: @ritual_stleonards.
Collected Fictions
St Leonards - Unit 1, 6-8 London Rd, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6AE
Collected Fictions is a combo craft beer and natural wine bottle shop and bar, split across two small shopfronts. On the beer front, there are a few taps around the tiny bar that change regularly. As for wines, they focus on new and smaller winemakers, focusing on "winemakers we love and wines that excite us". They have one of the most interesting selections in St Leonards, and in the evening, it's a proper scene. On a good day, you'll want to relax with a glass of wine on one of the benches outside.
Follow them on Instagram: @collected.fictions
The Crown
Hastings - 64-66 All Saints St, Hastings, TN34 3BN
This independent pub is set in the Old Town so it's the perfect place to stop is you've been looking around the shops or if you've come back from a walk in the field at the top of the nearby funicular. The menu here is particularly strong, taking a modern British/European approach using locally sourced ingredients. So you'll find dishes like a crispy fried chicken leg ballotine stuffed with bacon barbecue butter or a venison kofta with tzatziki and pumpkin seed dukkah. One thing to note, however, they're one of the very few pubs that don't put on a Sunday roast.
Follow them on Instagram: @thecrownhastings
The Royal
St Leonards - 1 St Johns Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 6HP
This 18th-century pub toon on a new lease of life, when it was relaunched by James Hickson and Sam Coxhead, who previously worked together at Great Queen Street, The Canton Arms, and St John. They went straight onto the 50 Best Gastropubs list in 2020 while their menu features dishes like braised cuttlefish with red wine, fennel, orzo and tapenade or a guinea fowl, mushroom and tarragon pie.
Follow them on Instagram: @the_royal_st_leonards
Also see...
Salon Cheese & Wine (St Leonards) - For cheese and charcuterie, with a small dine-in space for cheeseboards as well as a great off licence
Sleeper (St Leonards) - Everyone loves bagels right now, and Sleeper bake their own with different fillings all day long.
Starsky and Hatch (St Leonards) - Deserving a shout-out almost for the name alone, this is a beachfront cafe serving scallop buns and more.
Coquina (Hastings) - From the team behind Bayte, this is a well-reviewed Spanish tapas restaurant inside Hastings Contemporary
Jerk and Bean (St Leonards) - A relatively new addition, this is a Caribbean kitchen serving up jerk chicken, curries, ackee & saltfish and more.
Winifred's (Hastings) - Set inside The Courtyard (next to the underground skate park), this serves up a hyper-seasonal menu with a signature dish being their sardine bolognaise on toast.
Colombo House (Hastings) - A modern Sri Lankan restaurant using both local produce and produce imported weekly from Sri Lanka. Look out for a sister restaurant from them that's opening soon (at the time of writing).
How to get there
Both Hastings and St Leonards are a very easy train trip from London, with the simplest route being direct from Charing Cross every 15 minutes or so, taking just over 90 minutes. You can even stop off in Battle for a bit of sightseeing on the way down.
Also see...
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